In two weeks time its A4U Expo London 2010. As a mediapartner we will off course be present at the Excel Centre to cover the conference, but there is more! We not only gave away the free ticket for the conference, we also talk about the show in advance, on our radioshow, on our special A4U page and right here! We have asked several speakers some questions about A4U Expo. You can find their answers here, plus the reasons you should go and see their specific sessions!

First up is Sam Crocker (@SamuelCrocker), Sam is a Lead SEO (and Meme Expert) at Distilled in London and an SEOmoz Global Associate. He will be speaking on the session “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Using Your Competitor’s Tactics to Gain a Competitive Edge” on the Wednesday at 9.30 am. Go see his answers here:

1- What makes A4U a different conference to be speaking at than others?

It’s nice because it’s a different audience and has a different appeal. It seems like there is a better response to the “darker” arts of search marketing and also a lot of areas that have become better known within the SEO community but not tied into Affiliates toolbox yet (and vice versa). I’ve got to say I’m pretty amped up to learn what’s big in the affiliate space as well.

2- What can people expect from your presentation?

I definitely don’t want to give too much away but I’m hoping to bring some new tools/skills/tricks to the table. One of the things that I think might be of most value to affiliates and SEOs alike is the importance of not only playing defence, but making sure competitor analysis isn’t a “one and done” activity and that you use it to make sure you get out ahead of your competitors rather than just follow suit.

3- Why should people attend your session instead of the other ones?

For starters I think Pete and I have got some pretty cool and complimentary techniques to bring to the table and from our preliminary chats it sounds like we’ll both be talking about some approaches that have certainly not been spoken about in the light of day too much.

4- Which other sessions would you recommend?

Day one looks pretty exciting… for me the one I’m most excited for is probably the Negative SEO panel. It’s a seriously accomplished panel they’ve assembled and I think it will compliment some of the more “defensive” competitor analysis that I’ll be touching on for Day 2.

In general I’m really excited for Dush’s chat on “avoiding the Google slap” as this is something I’m often forced to cover (too late) answering Q&A for SEOmoz. Equally, I think Michelle’s “affiliate virgin” presentation is going to be particularly valuable for me.

I’m gutted to say that I think Tom, Rich and Jonathan’s presentation AND Bas’ presentations are going on at the same time because they are some seriously smart cookies. It’s a bit of a bummer to have to choose between these presentations from my perspective because they’re all going to be top-class. That said, I think Pete and I are going to offer some pretty cool stuff that’s bound to rival theirs so we’ll have to see 🙂

5- Why do Affiliates and SEOs need each other?

Great question. Well, I know that we need each other because we both come at a problem from a different angle and both have a lot of knowledge to share with eachother. Without wanting to generalise too much I think Affiliates understand risk-taking, short gains, and when it’s time to walk away so much better than SEOs. On the other hand, I feel like SEOs can teach Affiliates so much about investing in the longer term and trying to set up some lasting ROI by staying in the SERPs and relying on natural rankings.

6- Whats the biggest mistake you’ve made when it comes to affiliate marketing?

Not getting involved. I spend loads of time complaining about wanting more money and next-to-no time working in the affiliate space. One of these days I’ll wise-up, let’s hope it’s not too late!

Do you have a question for Sam which he can answer in his presentation? Post it in the comments here and we’ll make sure he gets them!

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